November 6 2017 Prayer Partner Story

This past month has been overwhelming for many who care about immigrants in the U.S., with several significant policy changes and more potential changes on the horizon. In the next few days, we expect the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security to announce a decision to either renew or terminate the Temporary Protected Status program for immigrants from particular countries (find a letter to her from evangelical leaders on this topic here). The president signed another executive order that will significantly limit refugee resettlement (listen to this interview with World Relief president Scott Arbeiter for more details). And we continue to pray that Congress will act to resolve the situation of “Dreamers,” the young immigrants who benefitted from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which the Department of Homeland Security is now phasing out, so that these individuals will be able to live and work lawfully in the country that most consider their only home.

With that in mind, I wanted to share this note from a Dreamer who lives in Kansas:

Dear prayer partners,

As a Dreamer, I want to thank you.

Thank you for praying for me and hundreds of thousands like me whose situation is precarious right now, given the announced termination of the DACA program. As you likely know, if the Congress does not act soon, those with DACA will lose their work permission (and, thus, their jobs) and be at risk of deportation beginning next March. For me, that would likely mean losing my job as a nursing assistant, which allows me both to support my daughter and to pay for nursing school.

My story is probably like many others that you’ve heard. I have lived in Hutchinson, Kansas, since I was 2 years old. This is the only home I know. Our community welcomed my parents’ Christian values and strong work ethic. They both worked hard to buy their own home. My personal values are the values of central Kansas: committed to hard work, to preserving the freedoms of this great nation, and to seek to live by the principles of my Christian faith.

Like any young adult, I dream of a bright future where those in my situation can become full participants in our society through our pursuit of lawful employment, higher education and military service. Yet my future remains uncertain.

That’s why I’m thankful for your prayers.

But I also want to ask you to put your prayers into action. Proverbs 3:27 instructs us: “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.”

Most Americans—including most Christians of various denominations—tell pollsters that they want Congress to pass legislation that would allow Dreamers like me to stay permanently in the U.S. and to eventually earn U.S. citizenship. But it will likely not happen with just passive support: you—and I—have the power to act, and I believe that God wants us to use it.

Here are a few ways you could act:

Reach out to your Member of Congress and your two U.S. Senators, letting each of them know that you want Congress to find a solution for Dreamers. This tool from World Relief will make it easy to determine who represents you, then to make some phone calls or send a few emails.

Write and submit a letter to the editor or an Op-Ed in your local newspaper.Here are some tips for doing so.

Finally, please do not stop praying. The decisions that Congress makes in the coming weeks and months will in many ways determine the future for me and my family, and for many, many others throughout our country.

In Christ,

Esmeralda Tovar-Contreras

On behalf of everyone at the Evangelical Immigration Table, thank you for your prayers for Esmeralda and many like her—and thanks for taking action.